North American Network Operators Group

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Re: mobile user strawman argument

  • From: Brad Knowles
  • Date: Thu Jun 30 18:29:16 2005

At 5:43 PM -0400 2005-06-30, Todd Vierling wrote:

 I've done a look-see around my network and acquaintances a while ago, and
 among them were quite a few mailers, all of which supported not only
 alternate ports, but also SMTP AUTH.  MSA support is far more available than
 this classic FUD.
Your network and your acquaintances don't count. They're much more technically competent than the average Internet user. Your family probably thinks of you as the computer expert. In turn, they themselves are probably the computer experts in their respective groups of friends and co-workers, probably in part due to their long-term association with you and the knowledge that has "rubbed off" over the years. Even they and their friends/co-workers are probably too advanced for this survey to be valid.

I worked at AOL for over two years. I know what the average Internet user is and is not capable of. I know what kind of software they use, and their total and complete incompetence in configuring that software, even if given the world's most explicit step-by-step instructions. If you can't deliver a configuration that works out-of-the-box for them, and which they are unable to change into a less functional state, it's not going to happen.


I am the computer expert in my family. My mom is the computer expert in her office. My maternal grandmother was the computer expert in her office -- she wasn't introduced to them until she was in her late 50s, and she's in her 80s now. Even my grandmother is more technically competent than the average Internet user, and would be overqualified to be a subject of such a survey.

 It's been nearly six years (RFC2476 was December 1998).  Is that long enough
 for you yet?
	Don't ask me, ask the MUA authors.

 (Heck, if the change-for-standards-at-a-snail's-pace Pacific Northwestern
 quasi-monopoly could get off their asses to allow alternate ports, anyone
 should be able to offer it by now.)
Plenty of monopoly cable and telephone operators still don't offer such services, and most will only be dragged kicking and screaming into the 1980s when they are literally given absolutely no other choice. The existence of a particular operator that is apparently somewhat more enlightened does not disprove the model.

--
Brad Knowles, <[email protected]>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

SAGE member since 1995. See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.